Bill Conner, Entrust President and CEO, Supports Identity-Based Security at Cards Middle East Event 2011 in United Arab Emirates

Dr. Ali Mohamed Al Khouri and Bill Conner

During the Cards Middle East 2011 exhibition held at ADNEC in Adu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, May 17-18, Entrust President and CEO Bill Conner hosted a lunch for conference attendees comprised of senior executives within retail banks, telecom operators and government agencies where he discussed the growing need for securing today’s open networks.

Conner spoke to the importance of securing the identities of both individuals and devices, and how this approach is core to a proven layered approach that’s key to better overall digital security for organizations, government and enterprises.

The Cards Middle East 2011 is a two-day conference and is the largest gathering of retail banks, telecom operators, retailers and government. More than 60 expert speakers present on their secrets for maximizing revenues from card portfolios, capitalizing on new payment infrastructure and implementing new countermeasures to combat fraud.

“Good afternoon and welcome to Cards Middle East. I am Bill Conner, President and CEO of Entrust, the leader in identity-based software security solutions. I am pleased to be here today at one of the premier card events in the world.

For those of you who are not familiar with Entrust, let me give you the 30-second view. Entrust is a 15-year-old software company which was an early inventor of Public Key Infrastructure or PKI.

Trust in Entrust

For years, Entrust has set the standard for the management of digital certificates across the world. From government portals and IDs to banking applications to enterprise authentication, Entrust provides the security and authentication necessary to build trust into government and enterprise’s most critical applications.

Over the last few years, Entrust has also undergone an important transformation. In addition to being the leader in PKI, we are also now a leader in authentication and fraud protection — whether it’s a digital certificate, national ID card, national health card or ePassport, a hardware or software token, grid card, or even a smartcard.

In fact, many of the countries represented at this conference are Entrust customers. Entrust provides identity solutions to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and several other countries in the region.

We are very proud to be so well represented across this region, as well as the more than 60 countries around the world where we have customers. That is a little about Entrust, I would like to spend a few minutes talking about why Entrust is here at the conference.

Demand for Identities Is Going Beyond the Perimeter

We believe that you cannot have true security and trust without knowing who or what is on both ends of a transaction. For years, governments and enterprises have spent endless amounts of budget dollars on trying to keep people out.

However, as we all know, protecting just at the perimeter doesn’t do a good enough job of it, nor does it help enable the organization to realize the promise of today’s open networks.

These open networks are also not just about people. Today’s identities include kiosks, servers, mobile devices, ATMs and even power meters. The proliferation of devices, applications and identities has been, and will continue to be, an exponential growth curve.

And behind that you have the ever growing number of threats, which are changing on a daily basis. With malware nearly tripling the last two years, identities are increasingly coming under attack.

That is why we believe to truly secure your environment you need identity-based security. Identity-based security brings the right level security, enablement and compliance to any transaction. This can only be done at the identity level for governments and financial institutions.

And that is why Entrust is at this card show. We see chips — whether they are RFID or embedded chips in smartphones, tablets and other devices — as one of the best containers for your digital identity. These chips can provide a high level of security and identity for humans, devices or objects, and will help bridge many of the growing problems that are facing both governments and enterprises today.

Comprehensive Authentication Platform

As an example, our latest version of Entrust IdentityGuard< brings together three very different, but closely-knit worlds — physical, logical and mobile access. Entrust IdentityGuard simplifies the issuance and management of smartcards by integrating card and certificate management on a single platform and places the promise of physical and logical access into our customers’ hands.

We have even taken this one step further with INTERPOL, where they can do both physical and logical access, but their card also serves as an ePassport, enabling them to seamlessly cross borders without the need for additional Visas and identification. This was an industry-first and we are very proud to be a partner with INTERPOL on this project.

Closing Comments

So, in the end, it’s about assigning the proper risk level to an identity or a transaction. We think using a solution that can grow with your needs is the best option given the ever-changing threats of today’s environments.

Usernames and passwords, tokens and smartcards all have a place in today’s infrastructure — it is all about the right level of security for that transaction that matters.

Entrust is pleased to be a sponsor of this great conference and we hope you will look to Entrust for your future authentication needs.